Two days earlier than tribal Bastar goes to the polls, Maoists shot and hacked to dying the Narayanpur district
BJP vice-president in full public view on Saturday night. Ratan Dubey is the second BJP chief to be killed in Bastar in two weeks, and the seventh this yr. One of many earlier victims was Dubey’s predecessor in the identical put up within the Narayanpur BJP unit, Sagar Sahu, who was murdered in February this yr.Dubey’s homicide comes barely 10 days after the Maoists issued a menace to political staff and candidates “to not come in search of votes to Bastar”.
Dubey, who was a Narayanpur zilla panchayat member as properly, was killed quickly after addressing an election rally in Dhaudai area close to Kaushalnagar, round 280km from Raipur.
After the marketing campaign was over, a cock combat was organised close to the dais, and a crowd gathered round it. Sources say {that a} group of males, disguised as villagers, quietly broke away from the gang and began approaching the dais. Dubey noticed them shortly and sensed hazard. He jumped from the dais and began operating. The commotion caught everybody’s consideration and so they regarded away from the cockfight to see Dubey being chased by a gaggle of males holding weapons, daggers and axes.
As scores of individuals watched in horror, the chase went on for just a few hundred metres earlier than one of many assailants shot Dubey within the again. The second he collapsed, the killers started hacking him with axes and daggers.
Dubey was killed 5km from Jharghati police station, a police assertion mentioned. “The incident happened round 5.30 within the night and police instantly rushed to the spot. The physique is being shifted to the district headquarters (35km away) and additional investigations have been initiated,” the assertion mentioned.
BJP Chhattisgarh in-charge Om Prakash Mathur mentioned, “Ratan Dubey was chopped to items by Maoists. I enchantment to get together staff and leaders that we are going to avenge this by profitable the elections. We’re together with his household. Focused killings are taking place relentlessly. This exhibits that the legislation and order is worsening in Chhattisgarh. Maoists are frightened that they gained’t survive if BJP involves energy.”
Former chief minister and senior BJP chief Raman Singh expressed his grief and tweeted: “Such focused killings are aimed to have an effect on the elections and scare off BJP, however we’re not going to get scared as a result of the folks of Chhattisgarh are with us. Very quickly, the Naxalites and different offenders can be hanged the wrong way up.” Dubey is the seventh BJP employee to be murdered this yr. On October 20, Birju Taram was shot lifeless in Mohla-Manpur district when he was getting back from an election assembly of Raman Singh. On June 20, BJP ST Morcha normal secretary in Bijapur, 52-year-old Kaka Arjun, was murdered.
On January 16, BJP employee Budhram Kartam was killed when he was on his morning stroll in Jagdalpur. One other BJP chief, Neelkanth Kakkem, was murdered in Awapalli area of Bijapur on February 5. In back-to-back killings on February 10-11, Maoists murdered BJP district vice-president Sagar Sahu in Narayanpur and Ramdhar Alami in Dantewada.
Watch Chhattisgarh: Maoists homicide BJP chief Ratan Dubey two days forward of meeting polls 2023